Mary

To the citizens of God’s eternal kingdom, sojourning in the various corners of Pima County...

May the richness of knowing God and being known by Him fill you with an ever increasing peace, equipping you to be faithful witnesses and signposts of the coming kingdom in our world.

This week, we consider Mary, the Mother of God.

The purpose or objective of our reflection on Scripture this week will be attempting to recapture the wonder that we have perhaps never even felt concerning the events of a virgin giving birth to God.

Someone said once that pastors and those who handle the scriptures with regularity are in great danger of having singed hands.

Having handled the Holy Word of God with such regularity, they become accustomed to it’s wonders and are no longer captivated by it.

Unfortunately, for those of us living in a post-printing press, post-internet, post-Bible app on your phone, post-every sermon every preached under the sun on your phone world, we have all become the singed.

Our hands (but really our hearts), are burnt and numbed to the astonishing events of 2022 years ago because we have either heard the stories from our cradles, or we have a blunted appreciation for the miraculous because we really don’t think the world works that way after all.

“How could a virgin birth or the incarnation of a god be pressed through the scientific method?”

Friends, we are in desperate need of the medicine of imagination.

We are in dire need to recover the wonder of a child,

who doesn’t ask HOW God became man,

but rather WHY?

The favorite question of children.

Children actually see the magic (if you’ll allow me to use that word) that infuses our world because their inquiry of the world around them is rooted in the “why” and not the “how”.

Church history has afforded us a rich and exhaustive treatment of the “how”.

Words like “hypostatic union” and “homousious” have enormous significance for generations of the church who struggled not with the “why”, but rather the “how”.

These words are still extremely important for us when we are talking with our friends and neighbors.

If they are Mormon or atheistic, then rich theological reflection on the deity of Christ will serve our conversations well.

For the Christian living in the 21st century church in America, we too need to press into these questions and answers.

Past generations of the church have wrestled greatly with the fact that Jesus is God.

What is perhaps needed more for us can be illuminated by turning that phrase around.

God is Jesus.

YHWH is Jesus.

How can we sufficiently shock ourselves with the knowledge of God taking on flesh?

How can we capture the unbelievable astonishment that all of history finds it’s apex and fulfilment in a Jewish man who lived and died in Roman occupied Palestine?

How can we heal our hearts so that we are re-sensitized to the story?

To be placed BACK into the narrative afresh, as if we were reading this story for the first time?

I will propose that God, knowing our own needs before we ever know them, prepared for our singed hearts, by orchestrating the story of a quiet young woman named Mary.

When we talk about Mary, we must do more than simply reflect intellectually about her.

We must use our imagination to come to grips with emotions of carrying God in one’s own womb.

We must imagine the social pressure of carrying what is perceived by most to be a bastard son.

We must dream of the discomfort of riding a donkey whilst 9 months pregnant.

We must smell in the nose of our mind the intermingling of blood and cow pies as a babies cries cut through the night.

It is in the STORY of Mary that we find the hopes of Israel being summed up and fulfilled.

It is in the STORY of Mary that the true astonishment of the incarnation of God can be redeemed from our own apathetic approach to the jolly Christmas season.

If we are to be an Advent people, waiting on the return of our King, than we will be served well by an imaginative rehearsing of the greatest story ever told, the true story of the world and it’s Messiah.

So let’s turn our attention to Mary.

We as Protestants have made errors in how we talk of (or ignore) the person of Mary.

So much of what we say, or don’t say about Mary is in direct response to errors made by our brethren in the Catholic church concerning Mary.

We should be cautious to never build an entire theology out of negation.

Or in other words, we shouldn’t spend all of our time with Mary simply pointing out the flaws in what other people believe about her.

Instead, we should start with what we know.

We should be informed first by the text, and then by subsequent history.

So what do we know?

Mary was Jewish.

Mary was a woman.

Mary was a virgin.

Mary was Jewish.

Mentioning the Jewishness of Mary isn’t an exercise in modern intersectionality to try and show that she was oppressed.

While it is true that at this point in history, (like most), being a Jew wasn’t exactly the winning ticket for an easy life.

We do in fact find this girl living at a time when Jewishness was part and parcel with living under the occupying rule of a Roman government.

But that’s not the most important part of her Jewishness.

What makes the Jewishness of Mary so important is that God has decided to mediate His plan for the redemption of the world from the kingdom of darkness, through His chosen people, that is, Israel.

Pause, and consider the storytelling effect.

Israel was supposed to be hero of this story but has failed to be the hero.

Now, God is going to literally BECOME the true and better Israel, therein becoming the hero himself, by growing in the womb of Israel.

Excuse me?!

Who could imagine a story like this?

Only God.

The woman that God chose was not random.

This was a faithful woman.

This was a woman who was well acquainted with Israel’s story.

From her youngest days she had sat in the synagogues and listened to the prophets and Psalms be read.

Her faithful attendance to these hopes formed her own hopes.

So much so that by the time she is carrying the Messiah in her own womb, her soul overflows in a song we call the Magnificat.

Listen to the words this young woman sang:

Luke 1:46–55 ESV

46 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50 And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; 52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”

This is Holy Spirit inspired singing.

But it is not Mary opening her mouth and words she had not imagined spilling out.

Mary had been thoroughly shaped by the hope of Israel.

She had been taught Israel’s story.

A story of YHWH God and His mighty acts towards His people.

Mary starts her song by saying “My soul magnifies Kyrios.”

This is the Greek translated word for YHWH.

From the earliest pages of Luke’s gospel, it becomes abundantly clear that this story is going to be a continuation and fulfilment of the long story of YHWH and His mighty acts towards Israel.

And Mary knows it.

I am not sure to what degree Mary understood the reality that YHWH himself was in her womb.

She didn’t think in Greek categories like we do.

She wouldn’t have been pondering questions like “Is this child of the same substance, or just similar substance to God?”

No.

Mary was Jewish.

And her hopes were Jewish.

The hope of Israel, was that YHWH was coming back.

That was the uniform message of the prophets.

What Mary knew, was that she was pregnant, and YHWH was coming back.

She had received a message from God the Father, the Holy Spirit had come upon her, and she was bearing the Son of God.

If it sounds crazy, it is.

Resist the urge to ask how, and instead ask why. Like a child.

To continue answering the “why” question, let’s move on to point two.

2. Mary was a woman.

The womanhood of Mary is significant to us on many levels.

The foremost being that the fact that a woman was now bearing the child of God who would undue the curse of sin and death, would be nothing short than a fulfillment of the promise made in the garden thousands of years before. This was a fulfilment of the promise that the offspring of Eve and of the serpent would be in a hostile struggle. And that the serpent would get a strike in, but his head would be crushed.

A daughter of Eve was now pregnant with the head crusher.

That person that we looked for all throughout Genesis is finally here.

Cain didn’t crush the serpent.

Nor Abel.

Nor Seth.

Nor Noah.

Nor Abraham.

The sons of Adam only ever fell to the serpent’s power.

Now a son of God was here to do for us what we could never do.

Another reason why Mary’s womanhood is significant is that Mary is serving as a signpost of the new creation.

What does that mean?

When God created Eve, and Adam saw her for the first time, what did he do?

He broke into song.

Man and Woman together was God’s design for a fully fleshed out image of God on earth.

Men cannot image God’s character and nature alone.

Women cannot image God’s character and nature alone.

Both are needed in order for humanity to be truly human.

Both are needed to fully obey God’s command to care for the creation, and to be fruitful and multiply.

Women are the literal apex of God’s creation.

A shining crown of God’s beauty and glory adorning the whole universe.

But women were not treated this way after the fall.

Throughout the biblical story and throughout history women have been used and abused to no end.

This is to the great detriment of all creation.

When men do not live the way God created them to, the creation suffers.

When women do not live the way God created them to, the creation suffers.

Part of the significance of Mary carrying the son of God in her womb is that this is pointing to the new creation.

When God and mankind are now working together to cultivate the creation again.

When women are restored to the dignity that God created them to have.

Picture in your mind the lowliest, most unassuming woman you have ever met.

Or if you don’t think categories like that, think of one from modern art.

A modern art classic.

Pigeon lady.

If she is Christ’s, than in the new creation, this woman, if you could see her now, would blind you with the brilliance of her God given glory.

This is true for us because a quiet, unassuming Jewish girl was elected by God to be the Mother of the King.

In fact, this is not only true, but it is good news for all of the quiet and lowly.

Think about the little cast of characters who God selected to be his heralds, announcing that the new creation was breaking into the old:

Joseph: A carpenter who’s profession was nothing like the royalty of his ancestor King David.

Zechariah: An old priest who was quietly faithful with his work.

Elizabeth: The old wife of the old priest who’s womb was closed and could never have children.

Simeon: A devout old man who had not forgotten Israel’s true calling, and was waiting for the Messiah so that he could die.

Anna: An ancient widow, wholly devoted to prayer and fasting.

Shepherds: Lowly people, hard working into the night hours.

Mary: An unassuming, devout, young Jewish woman who listened to God.

Who do we have to usher in the High King of the universe?

The poor.

The elderly.

The barren.

The forgotten.

The faithful.

This is a signpost to the new creation.

When this little boy grows up, He will start His ministry by saying this

Luke 4:18–19 HCSB

18 The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim freedom to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

Are you poor?

Are you poor in spirit?

Are you captive to something?

Are you blind?

Are you oppressed?

Do you have a debt?

Are you enslaved?

Christ is for you.

His birth from the womb of a Jewish woman is the signpost of God’s new creation, worked into the old like yeast, for you.

The third thing we know about Mary,

3. Mary was a virgin.

Talk about fulfillment of prophecy as a sure sign of God.

One of the ways that we deviate from Catholic doctrine as protestants is that we do not affirm what is called the perpetual virginity of Mary.

Here’s the deal.

I actually don’t have a problem with this teaching.

There’s nothing wrong with a belief that Mary never had more children.

But this doctrine is tied with another doctrine which says that Mary was sinless.

We won’t get into all the implications of that view being problematic,

but we will focus on the positive.

God will dwell with sinners.

When we read the NT in a very Jewish way, Jesus’ deity shines through the clearest as we see Jesus sum up and fulfill all of the hopes of Israel’s hope.

The fact that this invisible transcendent God would come as a baby is astonishing.

Call of the prophets: “God is coming back”

To save and to judge and to rule.

As a baby.

Church, YHWH has come to dwell with sinners.

Not just to hang out with you and affirm you.

But to change you.

To liberate you from the powers that enslave you.

1 Timothy 1:15 LEB

15 The saying is trustworthy and worthy of all acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.

Kyrios Jesus

Lord Jesus.

YHWH Jesus.

The mighty one of old.

The ancient of days.

He became a baby.

The son of the virgin and God.

The God who no one has seen now takes on the image of His image bearers.

To save them.

Because they are sinners, and desperately need Him.

Christ Jesus died to save you, sinner.

So that you would not remain “sinner”, but would become called “saint”.

Praise the Lord, all you His Saints.

His mercy is for generation after generation.